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Vur sat with his legs crossed on top of the grassy spider. In his hand, there was a piece of meat which he was holding by a white bone jutting out of it. Beside him, Lindyss was sitting with her arms crossed. They were both looking at Gaegukja Yeol, who was standing across from Joe.
“Flaming martial arts,” Gaegukja Yeol said and turned her head to face Tafel, who was standing off to the side. “I’ll give you a demonstration of what it can do.” She faced Joe and nodded at the six-armed abomination. “Attack me as if your life depends on it.”
“I’m not really a fighter…,” Joe said, all his mouths speaking at once.
“Nonsense,” Gaegukja Yeol said. “You had friends on the thirtieth floor willing to hand you the weapons fit for magicians there. If you think for a second I’ll believe you don’t know to fight, then you should ask Lindyss here to replace the brains inside each of your heads.”
Joe exhaled before walking over to the bandaged corpse, the one that used to be his body. He retrieved the root bracelet and placed it on his furry wrist, the one that resembled a human arm the most. The root bracelet flashed amber, and a sword and shield appeared, grasped by the hands of his bony and double-elbowed arms. Joe stared at the weapons before taking two spears out of his root bracelet as well, putting them in his scaled and furry hands.
Joe’s eyes narrowed at Gaegukja Yeol. Although the unreasonable woman wanted to use him as a target for demonstration, that didn’t mean this was unfavorable for him. He had a new body, and although he didn’t want to admit it, Lindyss was right. The best way to adapt was by using it and seeing what did or didn’t work. Joe thumped the flat part of his sword against his shield, causing both weapons to emit a white mist upon collision. “You better watch yourself.”
Gaegukja Yeol squinted at the white mist. “Extinguisher weapons?”
“What’re those?” Tafel asked.
“Weapons specially made to hunt creatures made of flames,” Joe said, not taking his eyes off of Gaegukja Yeol. “The higher up in the tower you go, the greater the variety of creature types. Without appropriate weapons or skills to counter them, they make some stages impossible to clear.”
Gaegukja Yeol exhaled. “I just wanted to give a demonstration, not participate in a life-or-death battle,” she said. “About what I said earlier, why don’t you attack me as if your pride depends on it instead?” As she spoke, tiny flickers of flame rose from all over her body like goosebumps on top of her crystalline armor. “Watch closely, Tafel. The foundation of flaming martial arts is built upon control of your fire. The greater the control you have over your fire, the more incredible things you’ll be able to do.”
Joe took in a deep breath through all three of his noses, and he sprinted towards Gaegukja Yeol. Despite his increased size compared to his previous body, he moved quicker than he could before, almost at twice the speed. Thanks to that, he nearly collided into Gaegukja Yeol without even stabbing forward with his spears.
Gaegukja Yeol inhaled as she bent her knees, lowering her center of gravity. The flickers of fire on her body gathered around her fingers, and she reached out with her left hand, digging her fingers into Joe’s abdomen, the digits entering like a hot knife through butter. Her right hand grabbed Joe’s leg, burning him as her hand went several inches deep into his flesh. Gaegukja Yeol twisted her waist, using Joe’s own momentum against him to lift him and slam him headfirst into the ground.
Tafel blinked upon seeing the sight. Other than using flames to get a better grip on her opponent, Gaegukja Yeol didn’t do anything a regular person couldn’t have done.
Joe climbed to his feet and glanced down at his body. Then, he turned his head towards Lindyss. “This body doesn’t feel any pain?”
“Yeah,” Lindyss said. “It’s a hassle. I didn’t know how long it’d be before you died again, so I didn’t bother adding in the stuff that’d take hours for me to do. If you really want some of the functions that you’re missing, which I’m sure you’ll discover in the future, you can pay me, and I’ll do something about it.”
“It’s great to know you cut plenty of corners while making my new body,” Joe said. “It’s what every ghost wants to hear.”
“Hey! This might just be a demonstration, but don’t look away from me when we’re fighting,” Gaegukja Yeol said with a scowl. When Joe turned his owl head to look at her, Gaegukja Yeol punched forward, shooting a beam of fire towards him. It pierced through his chest, leaving a charred hole behind.
“Oh?” Tafel stroked her chin. From what she could tell, controlling flames also meant being able to concentrate them. Instead of letting her flames perform a wide-area attack, if she concentrated them onto a single point, they’d be more destructive. If she concentrated them enough, she could construct shields and armor similar to the fire-armor ability Sheryl had demonstrated. Instead of blocking attacks, the flames would directly melt them. Although it wouldn’t teach her how to convert her fleshy body into flames like a phoenix could, it was still a good direction to work towards.
“Damn,” Joe said. His tentacle reached up to touch his wound. The suckers pressed against his skin, keeping the tentacle firmly in place. A furrow appeared on his brow as he jerked the tentacle to get it off, but all it did was make him stumble forward. He turned his bat head towards Lindyss and glared at her. “How do I release these things? The tentacle is stuck!”
Lindyss shrugged. “How would I know? It’s your body.”
“Can’t you take this fight seriously?” Gaegukja Yeol asked, placing her hands on her hips. “You haven’t let me demonstrate anything.”
“You think I’m not trying!?” Joe asked. He used his arms to grab at the tentacle, but in the process, the scorpion tail that substituted for an arm stabbed the tentacle, causing a blackish-green patch to rapidly spread across the limb. “Why am I not immune to my own venom!?”
“I didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to stab yourself,” Lindyss said. “I’ll be sure to make your next body idiotproof.”
“I think you went about it the wrong way,” Erin said, popping out of Lindyss’ hair. “He died because his original body had too many features, not too little. You should put him in a snake’s body. They don’t have arms or legs; it’s perfect for a simpleton like him.”
Lindyss hummed. “You might be onto something.”